This company says the future of nuclear power is smaller, cheaper and safer: NPR
Artist reproduction of NuScale Power's nuclear power plant, which would use small modular reactors.
NuScale Power
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NuScale Power
The reproduction of the arts by NuScale Power's nuclear power plant, which would use small modular reactors.
NuScale Power
Nuclear power plants are so large, complicated and expensive to build that more people close than to open up. An Oregon company, NuScale Power, wants to change that trend by building nuclear facilities opposite to existing ones: smaller, simpler, and cheaper.
The company says plant design with small modular reactors can also work well with renewable energy, such as wind and sun, by providing backup electricity when the wind does not blow and the sun is not shining.
The 98 nuclear reactors operating in the country now are large because they were designed to benefit from economies of scale. Nevertheless, many are in danger of closing in the next decade, mainly because they cannot compete with cheaper natural gas and renewable energy.
To respond to this dilemma, we have developed small economies, says Jose Reyes, the shipping engineer and co-founder of NuScale.
Instead of a large nuclear reactor, Reyes says his company will join a series of up to 12 smaller reactors. They were to be built at a factory and transported by truck to a site being prepared at the same time.
"You make [reactor] the pool and all this on the spot," Reyes says. "In parallel, you produce the modules, and then the construction plan cuts to about half."
NuScale Power's simulator in Corvallis, Oregon, was designed to show regulators that the company can operate 12 reactors from one control room.
Jeff Brady / NPR
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Jeff Brady / NPR
NuScale Power's simulator in Corvallis, Oregon, was designed to show regulators that the company can operate 12 reactors from one control room.
Jeff Brady / NPR
NuScale says that it has also simplified how plants are run in a way that makes them safer.
The Fukishima disaster in 2011 happened when a tsunami struck off-line emergency power generators that cooled the reactors and used fuel, which led to reactor melting.
"We've looked at ways the systems have failed in the past and tried to remove such error modes from our design," said Karin Feldman, vice president of the company's Program Management Office.
NuScale's design Does not depend on pumps or Generators that can fail in an emergency because it uses passive cooling The reactors will be in a containment vessel, underground and in a large pool of water that can absorb heat.
This means that even a failed reactor will remain safe. "It doesn't require extra water," says Feldman. "It doesn't require AC or DC, it doesn't require operator action, and it can stay in the secure configuration as long as it's needed."
A power source for wind and sun
NuScale plans to build its first nuclear power plant at Idaho National Lab. The power will run the lab and go to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), which serves 46 member tools in six western states.
The organization is looking for a carbon-free power source to generate power when there are periodic sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines are offline. And it turns out that NuScale's modular design is good for it.
Large nuclear reactors are constantly running, but NuScale's collection of smaller reactors can be ramped up and down relatively quickly. Batteries can back up intermittent sources of renewable energy, but UAMPS CEO Doug Hunter says NuScale reactors are cheaper.
"Each module will have enough fuel in it for up to two years of operation, so it's like we are a battery that has a two-year charge to it," Hunter says.
NuScale must still convince the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the plant design is safe. The company cleared the first phase of this review last year.
Licensing of this design is challenging. It is so different from existing facilities that the regulations need to be changed to accommodate it. It worries some weights and critics.
"My concern about NuScale is that they believe so deeply that their reactor is safe, and do not have to meet the same criteria as the larger reactors, that it pushes for many exceptions and exceptions," said Edwin Lyman, acting director of Nuclear Safety Project at Union of Concerned Scientists
Lyman claims that even with his passive safety design, things could go wrong – he will be among those who look at regulators closely as NuScale pushes to get his first power plant built and operated in 2026. [19659039]
